Ministry of Justice

Please note that where the number released from an establishment was 5 or fewer, the specific figure has not been given, in order to avoid the risk of identifying individuals.

The numerical information provided has been drawn from administrative IT systems which, as with any large-scale recording system, are subject to possible error with data entry and processing.

The available information is shown in the table below.

Community Payback is a visible punishment which sees offenders undertake work that directly benefits the communities they have harmed.

Rigorous and constructive projects are delivered across England and Wales on a daily basis. Work carried out by offenders may include removing graffiti from public buildings, clearing wasteland, or decorating a community centre.

Local engagement is an integral part of Community Payback, and anyone can nominate a project in their local area via the Gov.uk website.

Prior to unification of the Probation Service in June 2021, Community Payback was delivered by Community Rehabilitation Companies (CRCs) and consequently we do not have access to an exhaustive list of projects delivered in each of the last five years.

However, the Durham Tees Valley CRC did deliver regular projects in partnership with Durham County Council in the Peterlee area, with Community Payback teams working four days a week to improve local open spaces.

Post-unification, the North East Probation region currently has regular projects running at the Castle Eden Walkway, Parkside Walkway, Woodhouse Park and South Hetton allotments.

Work undertaken at the projects listed above in Easington have included grounds maintenance, such as strimming, grass cutting, clearing overgrown vegetation to open up pathways and raising the canopy to remove overhanging branches, path edging and litter picking.

We are currently planning to open a Justice Collaboration Centre in Ipswich in late summer this year. The MoJ will be moving roles away from London through a national talent location strategy which relies on roles becoming vacant to then be advertised nationally to one of our 7 hubs. This allows MoJ to attract the best talent regardless of their location.

Due to this strategy, it is difficult for MoJ to estimate the number of jobs that may be created in Ipswich; however, this does mean the opening of the regional office will create new opportunities for the people of Ipswich, and its locality, to access good quality civil service jobs in the MoJ.

We have already delivered over 3,100 additional prison places through a combination of refurbishments, installing temporary accommodation, repurposing the Morton Hall Immigration Removal Centre back into a prison and the opening of HMP Five Wells earlier this year.

This government is determined to make streets safer for women and girls. We have published a draft Victims Bill to ensure victims get the support they are entitled to and have increased the funding for victim and witness support services to £192 million by 2024/25 - more than quadruple the level in 2009/10 and an uplift of 92% on core budgets in 2020/21. We are extending the time limit for victims of domestic abuse to seek justice and have taken action to protect women from harassment when they are breastfeeding in a public place.

Last year, we published the End to End Rape Review report and action plan with our plan to transform the way the criminal justice system responds to rape. Since publication, we have made significant progress in delivering actions to change the system for the better. We are beginning to see positive increases in the number of referrals of adult rape cases being made from the police to the CPS, and the number of charges as a result. Rape cases referred by the police to the CPS have increased in the last quarter of 2021 by 76% from the quarterly average in 2019, when the Rape Review was commissioned. Rape cases charged by the CPS in the last quarter of 2021 have also increased by 38% from the quarterly average in 2019. Rape convictions in 2021 were up by 67% on 2020. We will continue to use our cross-system governance structures to drive this change and take further actions where necessary.

We have identified 8 key levers to delivery changes across all aspects of the Criminal Justice System:

o Establishing suspect-focused rape investigations – known as Operation Soteria – across five police forces, and will expand to 14 more by September, with a national rollout completed by June 2023.

o Boosting the number of police officers, and specialist rape and sexual offences roles within the CPS, so that they have the capacity and capability to investigate rape cases more effectively. The CPS have committed to increasing their rape and serious sexual offences workforce by 194 – from 433 – by the end of March 2023.

o Working with police forces to make sure that victims’ mobile phones are only examined where necessary, and only retained for short periods of time where they are.

o Improving the timeliness and proportionality of requests for material from third parties during investigations. The government has launched a consultation to gather more insight, evidence and data on current issues, and to work to ensure police and CPS requests for third party material are made appropriately, and the Attorney General has also published revised guidelines to better direct investigators and prosecutors only to access information relevant to a case.

o Expanding pre-recorded cross-examination (Section 28) for victims of sexual violence and modern slavery in Crown Courts nationwide– with this vital measure now available in almost half of all Crown Courts (37 locations). The Government is committed to rolling it out nationwide by September

o Expanding Crown Court capacity continues, with a £477 million investment over the next three years to reduce the Crown Court backlog and how long victims have to wait for trials.

o Expanding support for victims. This includes creating a national 24/7 support line for victims of rape and sexual abuse, so that every victim can access support whenever and wherever they need it. And we are using additional ringfenced funding to increase the number of Independent Sexual and Domestic Violence Advisors (ISVAs and IDVAs) by 300, to over 1000 by 2024/25 - a 43 percent increase over the next three years.

o Criminal Justice System delivery data dashboard: We are publishing the CJS delivery data dashboard quarterly for adult rape which brings together local data from across the system in one place for the first time, allowing us to increase transparency, increase understanding of the justice system and support collaboration, especially at a local level.

Alongside our progress update last week, we announced a pilot of enhanced specialist sexual violence support in the Crown Court. This is aimed squarely at doing better by rape victims, giving them the support they need to stay engaged in the process and get the justice they deserve. We are committed to going further and pushing harder on our actions so that we can drive bigger impacts, deliver wider system change and crucially, deliver justice for victims of rape and sexual abuse.

The Bill of Rights received its first reading in the House of Commons on Wednesday 22 June 2022. This follows the consideration of over 12,800 response to the Government’s consultation, which closed on 19 April 2022. The Bill delivers on the Government’s manifesto commitment to ‘[…] update the Human Rights Act and administrative law to ensure there is a proper balance between the rights of individuals, our vital national security and effective government.’. Our reforms will curtail the abuses of human rights, restore some common sense to our justice system, and ensure that our human rights framework meets the needs of the society it serves.

The Root and Branch Review of the Parole System was published on 30 March 2022 and set out a number of reforms to the parole system. Key reforms include: refining the statutory release test and adding criteria which Parole Board panels must consider; creating a ‘top-tier’ of the most serious offenders, who will be subject to increased ministerial oversight, including the ability of the Secretary of State to refuse their release; and increasing the number of panel members with law enforcement experience, mandating that these members sit on ‘top-tier’ cases. We will legislate for these proposals as soon as parliamentary time allows.

We have already implemented a tougher test and increased ministerial oversight when considering the most serious offenders for a move to open prison conditions. In addition, a Statutory Instrument has recently been laid in Parliament, which will amend the Parole Board Rules to allow for some parole hearings to be heard in public. It will also provide for the Secretary of State to present the Parole Board with a single view on the suitability of a prisoner for release, which will allow for ministers to put in their view to the Board in the most serious cases. All of these measures aim to enhance public protection and improve confidence in the parole system.

The information requested is in the attached table.

The Female Offender Strategy, published in June 2018, made it clear we want fewer women serving short sentences in custody and more managed in the community. Custody is intended as a last resort, for the protection of the public and the punishment and rehabilitation of the offender.

HM Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS) is committed to increasing awareness of the hidden harms of problem gambling and training our prison and probation officers. This equips them with the skills and confidence to help identify, support and signpost individuals into the most appropriate interventions both in custody and on release.

The activities and training services available to improve staff awareness regarding gambling related harms are detailed below.

Within the Probation Service, practitioners have access to an evidence based effective practice resource which was published in 2021. This provides a summary of key evidence, including the harms caused by gambling, signs that gambling is causing a problem, ideas on how to work with individuals who gamble and reflective questions to support practice discussions.

To increase awareness, the launch of this guidance was supported by an online event in November 2021 to understand more about the prevalence and effects of gambling in criminal justice and look at how prison and probation services can respond. The recording of the event remains available for staff to access. The event involved speakers from the Prisoner Education tTrust, the Howard League for Penal Reform, Epic Restart Foundation and Gam Care along with colleagues from within HMPPS.

Further work is currently underway to create a package of materials for probation staff to use with this specific cohort. This is expected to be available from October 2022. I refer the noble Lord to the answer given to HL1110 for further information.

HMPPS has an online learning platform which hosts a variety of training that all prison and probation staff can access. On this platform there is a package called ‘Problem Gambling: Prevalence and Practice’ where the aim is for the learner to gain an understanding about the occurrence and effects of gambling in the criminal justice system.

The police also offer a six-hour training course "on understanding and spotting early signs of gambling addictions", which was launched in September 2021 and is available to all police officers.

Offenders with a gambling addiction may be suitable for a Mental Health Treatment Requirement (MHTR) as part of a community or suspended sentence order where mental health has been identified as an underlying factor.

The MHTR clinical practitioner assessment would identify an individual’s vulnerability (for example gambling addiction) and this would determine the psychological interventions suitable for them. Due to the complexity of gambling addiction, different approaches are used to enhance therapeutic effectiveness.

HM Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS) is committed to increasing awareness of the hidden harms of addiction to gambling and helping to support those with a problem, at all stages of the criminal justice system. To this end, a needs analysis is planned so that we can better understand the size of the issue. The results will inform the development of an HMPPS national gambling strategy, designed to raise awareness of problem gambling and ensure that our probation officers have the confidence to help identify and signpost individuals into the most appropriate care.

I refer the noble Lord to the answer given to HL980 for a more detailed account of the work in hand to raise awareness and knowledge of problem gambling with prison staff, probation and the police.

Staff recruitment was suspended from March 2020 until August 2020 whilst we implemented Covid-19 secure practices in response to Government guidelines on social distancing and non-essential travel. While this created a gap in our pipeline of new officers, once the process restarted, we used initiatives such as the accelerated launch of 60+ recruitment campaigns and the use of targeted overtime and mutual aid across prisons, to ensure establishments facing the greatest challenges received the most support.

Although face-to-face teaching was temporarily suspended due to safety concerns at the start of the pandemic, education continued via remote learning. With the pandemic National Framework for Prison Regimes and Services having been lifted on 9 May 2022, we are now getting increasing numbers of learners back in the classroom and participating in activities, like the arts, that support rehabilitation where it is safe to do so.

As set out in the Prisons Strategy White Paper, published on 7 December 2021, we are committed to improving education in prisons and we are delivering a Prisoner Education Service within this Parliament to raise prisoners’ levels of numeracy, literacy, skills and qualifications with the aim of helping them secure jobs upon release and drive down reoffending. This work includes investment in digital infrastructure, more training that delivers the skills employers need, more education experts to support Governors and improved support for prisoners with additional learning needs.

Community Payback sees offenders make reparation for their crimes in a constructive and demanding way. Community Payback should be a visible punishment, with offenders undertaking work that benefits the communities they have harmed.

Local engagement is an integral part of Community Payback, and we encourage members of the public to nominate projects via the Gov.uk website. The public can provide a unique insight into the needs of their local area and therefore the merit of public nominations is that projects are responsive to those priorities. The nominations we receive are then assessed by local Community Payback teams for suitability to ensure that the proposal benefits the local community, does not directly replace paid employment, and does not contravene state aid or competitive advantage regulations.

Suitable projects may include removing graffiti from a public building, clearing wasteland, or decorating a community centre.

Prior to unification of the Probation Service in June 2021, Community Payback was delivered by Community Rehabilitation Companies (CRCs) who had their own processes for capturing public nominations. CRC contracts did not require them to report on these processes. However, under CRCs the public could also nominate projects via the Gov.uk website and we do retain this data, dating back to September 2019. There is no data prior to 2019.

Table 1 presents nominations received via the Gov.uk website for each CRC between September 2019 and June 2021.

Following unification in June 2021, the Probation Service assumed responsibility for all public nominations. Table 2 presents nominations received by each Probation region via Gov.uk from unification until 21 June 2022.

We are unable to provide data on how many projects nominated by members of the public have been completed in each of the last five years as CRCs were not required to collect this data. However, we are working to improve our data collection post-unification as part of wider reforms to Community Payback.

Community Payback sees offenders make reparation for their crimes in a constructive and demanding way. Community Payback should be a visible punishment, with offenders undertaking work that benefits the communities they have harmed.

Local engagement is an integral part of Community Payback, and we encourage members of the public to nominate projects via the Gov.uk website. The public can provide a unique insight into the needs of their local area and therefore the merit of public nominations is that projects are responsive to those priorities. The nominations we receive are then assessed by local Community Payback teams for suitability to ensure that the proposal benefits the local community, does not directly replace paid employment, and does not contravene state aid or competitive advantage regulations.

Suitable projects may include removing graffiti from a public building, clearing wasteland, or decorating a community centre.

Prior to unification of the Probation Service in June 2021, Community Payback was delivered by Community Rehabilitation Companies (CRCs) who had their own processes for capturing public nominations. CRC contracts did not require them to report on these processes. However, under CRCs the public could also nominate projects via the Gov.uk website and we do retain this data, dating back to September 2019. There is no data prior to 2019.

Table 1 presents nominations received via the Gov.uk website for each CRC between September 2019 and June 2021.

Following unification in June 2021, the Probation Service assumed responsibility for all public nominations. Table 2 presents nominations received by each Probation region via Gov.uk from unification until 21 June 2022.

We are unable to provide data on how many projects nominated by members of the public have been completed in each of the last five years as CRCs were not required to collect this data. However, we are working to improve our data collection post-unification as part of wider reforms to Community Payback.

Community Payback sees offenders make reparation for their crimes in a constructive and demanding way. Community Payback should be a visible punishment, with offenders undertaking work that benefits the communities they have harmed.

Local engagement is an integral part of Community Payback, and we encourage members of the public to nominate projects via the Gov.uk website. The public can provide a unique insight into the needs of their local area and therefore the merit of public nominations is that projects are responsive to those priorities. The nominations we receive are then assessed by local Community Payback teams for suitability to ensure that the proposal benefits the local community, does not directly replace paid employment, and does not contravene state aid or competitive advantage regulations.

Suitable projects may include removing graffiti from a public building, clearing wasteland, or decorating a community centre.

Prior to unification of the Probation Service in June 2021, Community Payback was delivered by Community Rehabilitation Companies (CRCs) who had their own processes for capturing public nominations. CRC contracts did not require them to report on these processes. However, under CRCs the public could also nominate projects via the Gov.uk website and we do retain this data, dating back to September 2019. There is no data prior to 2019.

Table 1 presents nominations received via the Gov.uk website for each CRC between September 2019 and June 2021.

Following unification in June 2021, the Probation Service assumed responsibility for all public nominations. Table 2 presents nominations received by each Probation region via Gov.uk from unification until 21 June 2022.

We are unable to provide data on how many projects nominated by members of the public have been completed in each of the last five years as CRCs were not required to collect this data. However, we are working to improve our data collection post-unification as part of wider reforms to Community Payback.

The data requested is not held by the Ministry of Justice, as recording processes do not identify a specific reason for hours being outstanding.

In March, the UK led efforts to expedite an International Criminal Court (ICC) investigation into the situation in Ukraine through the largest state party referral in the history of the ICC, which is now backed by 42 allies.

To support the ICC investigation, the UK is providing a comprehensive package of assistance which includes a financial contribution of £1 million from the Conflict, Stability and Security Fund (in addition to the UK’s annual contribution), and technical expertise from UK military, police and legal experts.

We are now working with our international partners to ensure that the ICC has all it needs to progress the investigation rapidly to see those responsible prosecuted and held accountable for war crimes committed in Ukraine.

The Government is committed to ensuring that bereaved families are properly supported and are able to participate in the inquest process. An inquest is intended to be an inquisitorial, fact-finding event, and in the vast majority of cases, representation is not necessary. There is no question of liability nor defendants, only interested persons, and witnesses are not expected to present legal arguments.

In certain circumstances, legal representation for bereaved families at inquests may be funded through the Exceptional Case Funding (ECF) scheme. We believe that the process to access this support should be as straightforward as possible, which is why we removed the means test for ECF in relation to these matters.

Whilst we acknowledge the call for the provision for legal representation for all bereaved families at inquests to ensure “equality of arms” between families and public bodies, we believe that additional lawyers at an inquest will not provide an overall improvement for the bereaved or change the outcome of the conclusion of an inquest.

The refreshed Ministry of Justice Guide to Coroner Services for Bereaved People is better focused on the needs of bereaved people and is designed to support bereaved families and keep them at the heart of the inquest process. The Guide includes number of key principles that government departments and the lawyers it instructs will follow. These include the need to consider the number of lawyers instructed, bearing in mind the commitment to support an inquisitorial approach.

All children and young people are placed within the Youth Secure Estate in the most appropriate, available accommodation that meets their needs. Each placement is subject to an individual risk assessment and is decided upon in line with the Youth Custody Service (YCS) Placement Guidance. Boys and girls aged between 12 and 18 years old are placed together at some establishments within the Youth Secure Estate.

Legally, there are no places exclusively reserved for 15- to 18-year-olds. However, the YCS Placements Guidance Policy guides the YCS Placements Team to generally only place children who are aged 15 years old or above into the Young Offenders Institution (YOI) sector. However, children aged under 15 could legally be placed into the YOI sector although this exceptional circumstance would have to be approved by senior officials.

All children and young people are placed within the Youth Secure Estate in the most appropriate, available accommodation that meets their needs. Each placement is subject to an individual risk assessment and is decided upon in line with the Youth Custody Service (YCS) Placement Guidance. Boys and girls aged between 12 and 18 years old are placed together at some establishments within the Youth Secure Estate.

Legally, there are no places exclusively reserved for 15- to 18-year-olds. However, the YCS Placements Guidance Policy guides the YCS Placements Team to generally only place children who are aged 15 years old or above into the Young Offenders Institution (YOI) sector. However, children aged under 15 could legally be placed into the YOI sector although this exceptional circumstance would have to be approved by senior officials.

The government is grateful to the Law Commission for their discussion paper on “Criminal Liability: Insanity and Automatism” published in 2013. The government has noted their proposals and has no immediate plans to conduct a further review as the defence of automatism is used so rarely, however, we have not ruled out the possibility of reform in the future. We keep the law in this area under appraisal alongside related law on insanity and unfitness to plead.

The government is grateful to the Law Commission for their discussion paper on “Criminal Liability: Insanity and Automatism” published in 2013. The government has noted their proposals and has no immediate plans to conduct a further review as the defence of automatism is used so rarely, however, we have not ruled out the possibility of reform in the future. We keep the law in this area under appraisal alongside related law on insanity and unfitness to plead.

There is currently dedicated legislation, that is underpinned by detailed guidance and protocols for each jurisdiction in the courts, to govern the admissibility of expert medical evidence. These procedures include opportunities for any unreliable evidence to be challenged and, if necessary, be excluded by the court.

The government’s top priority is protecting the public; it is essential that we have a sentencing framework that delivers this and ensures victims and the wider public have confidence that the punishment fits the crime in every case.

In 2020, the Government published a Sentencing White Paper and consequently delivered measures in the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act which received Royal Assent on 28 April 2022. Measures include ending automatic halfway release from prison for serious crimes, making a Whole Life Order the starting point for a premeditated murder of a child and a new power to refer high-risk offenders to Parole Board in place of automatic release.

While prisons keep people safe by taking dangerous criminals off our streets, we recognise that they can only bring down crime and keep the public safer in the longer-term if they properly reform and rehabilitate offenders. We therefore published the Prisons Strategy White Paper in December 2021 where we re-iterated our commitment to help individual turn their backs on crime and we will spend £200 million a year by 2024-25 to improve prison leavers’ access to accommodation, employment support and substance misuse treatment.

I refer the hon. Member to the answers given to PQ 11689 on 8 June 2022 and PQ 18922 on 20 June 2022.

The Fatal Accidents Act 1976 provides for an award of bereavement damages to certain family members which could be applied for in relation to road traffic accident fatalities. The size of the award is set by legislation and is currently £15,120.

Victims and bereaved families may be eligible to apply to the Government-funded Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme (the Scheme), which exists to compensate for serious physical or mental injury attributable to being a direct victim of a crime of violence. Bereavement and other payments are also available to qualifying relatives in fatal cases. As the Scheme is publicly funded, strict eligibility criteria apply. For the purposes of eligibility, an incident involving a vehicle will amount to a crime of violence only where the vehicle was used with intent to cause injury to a person.

This Government is tackling the causes of reoffending to make our streets safer. We are investing in probation services and new initiatives to reduce reoffending and beat crime.

The Prisons Strategy White Paper, published in December 2021, sets out our ambitious plans to reduce reoffending. We will spend £200 million a year by 2024/25 to improve prison leavers’ access to accommodation, employment support and substance misuse treatment, and on further measures for early intervention to tackle youth offending. This builds on £70 million of investment in 2021 to tackle drivers of reoffending.

Our measures are working. Overall proven reoffending has decreased from 30.9% in 2009/10 to 25.6% in 2019/20. The reoffending rates for index offences of robbery, possession of weapons, criminal damage and arson, and sexual and drug offences have all fallen between 2009/10 and 2019/20.

The proportion of individuals (adults and juveniles) released from custody who subsequently went on to reoffend over a one-year follow-up period are presented in the table below. The figures are broken down by index offence and ethnicity.

Table 1: Overall proven reoffending data for offenders released from custody, by index offence and ethnicity, April 2019 to March 2020 annual offender cohort

Notes:

1. Annual figures are produced by aggregating the four preceding 3-monthly cohorts. Please note that this may result in a single offender being included in the annual cohort more than once.
2. Proven reoffences are measured over a one-year follow-up period and a further six-month waiting period to allow for offences to be proven in court. It is worth noting that the reoffending follow-up and waiting periods for the April 2019 to March 2020 annual offender cohort overlaps, to varying degrees, with the first, second and third national lockdowns due as a result of the COVID19 pandemic. Due to this, figures relating to this cohort period should be interpreted with caution.
3. Index offence refers to the proven offence that led to an offender being included in the cohort.
4. Ethnicity categories presented are based on the reporting police officers' perception of the offender's ethnicity which is entered onto the Police National Computer and not self-reported.
5. Where offender counts are less than or equal to 5, data have been suppressed to avoid deductive disclosure. In addition, proven reoffending proportions based on less than 30 offenders are also removed as they make data unreliable for interpretation. In both instances, counts and/or proportions are marked as *.
6. Due to how custodial sentences are recorded, offenders with prison sentence lengths of one day are not included.

The Prisons Strategy White Paper sets out the government’s ambition to equip all prisoners with the literacy skills they need to get jobs on release. To support this, HMPPS has introduced new performance measures for English and maths and we are holding Governors to account for improving the teaching of reading in their prisons.

The joint report by HM Inspectorate of Prisons and Ofsted on Prison education: a review of reading education in prisons highlighted the need to improve literacy education in prisons. To address its recommendations, we will review the current mechanisms for assessing and recording the levels of prisoners’ reading; improve the curriculum guidance given to governors to ensure they prioritise the teaching of reading and review teacher capability to ensure that all providers have staff who are properly qualified to teach reading.

We are also planning to develop a Literacy Innovation Scheme to encourage new providers to work with us to trial new approaches to teaching reading with the aim of driving up quality and improving outcomes across the estate.

We are committed to tackling the threat posed by terrorist prisoners.

Our tough approach to terrorist prisoners allows us to limit their interactions, restrict their communications, and thwart the influence of the most subversive prisoners.

The CT Step Up programme has included establishing a new central intelligence hub bringing together MI5, the Police and HMPPS to improve our assessment of the threat in prisons.

We are now going further in meeting the evolving threat of terrorism, by accepting the overwhelming majority of recommendations made by Jonathan Hall QC in his review of Terrorism in Prisons published on 27 April 2022 (Terrorism in Prisons: Independent Reviewer of Terrorism Legislation's Report and Government Response - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk))

In response to the report, we are investing £1.2m in a specialist taskforce to identify and target the most influential terrorists publicly making it easier to move them into ‘Separation Centres’ and thereby keep them away from the main prison population. We are also investing a further £6m to expand ‘Close Supervision Centres’ to separate the most physically violent prisoners, including terrorist offenders, and keep staff and the broader prison population safe.

The car travel allowance for jurors is 31.4 pence per mile, with additional allowances available if the car contains other jurors as passengers. It was set at 31.4 pence per mile by the Ministry of Justice when the price of fuel was 121 pence per litre.

There is an additional rate for jurors of 4.2 pence per mile if one other juror is a passenger, with further juror passengers having a rate of 3.2 pence. With 4 juror passengers (additional to the driver), 45.2 pence per mile could be claimed.

The government values jury service as an important civic duty, that should be representative of society. In addition to the car travel allowance, there are other expenses that can be claimed. Information on what can be claimed is available on the gov.uk website and this information is also provided to jurors when they are summoned.

HMCTS are committed to ensuring that court hearings are accessible to all our users and that users with hearing loss or difficulties with speech can fully participate in those hearings. HMCTS provides reasonable adjustments for court and tribunal users with disabilities in accordance with our legal duty under the Equality Act 2010.

To meet our Public Sector Equality Duty, HMCTS also has a wider duty to avoid treating people less favourably because of their disability. Court and tribunal users are encouraged to contact the court before any type of hearing to discuss the particular adjustments or support they require, to enable their individual needs to be met. Information about reasonable adjustments is available on GOV.UK https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/hm-courts-and-tribunals-service/about/equality-and-diversity.

Reasonable adjustment guidance and learning and broader disability guidance is provided to all HMCTS staff. All guidance raises awareness of the issues people with hearing loss may face, and the reasonable adjustments which may help them to fully participate in hearings.

Since October 2016, £6,594,896 has been spent on interpreters for people with hearing impairments or difficulties with speech. This spend is across HMCTS, HMPPS, LAA and other commissioning bodies.

The information prior to November 2016 has been archived as it relates to a previous contract and is therefore no longer held centrally.

Any individual can access civil legal aid if they meet the eligibility criteria: their issue must be in scope, as set out under the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 (LASPO), and they must satisfy means and merits tests. As eligibility for legal aid is not determined by reference to whether an individual has hearing impairments or difficulties with speech this data is not routinely collected and therefore no specific assessment has been made.

In March we published a detailed consultation on legal aid means-testing arrangements. This consultation has now closed, and we are considering responses. We plan to publish a response in Autumn which will set out our final proposals. These proposed changes seek to ensure that the system remains accessible to all who need it. We estimate that they will mean that an additional 2m people in England and Wales will have access to civil legal aid as a result.

The Ministry of Justice has published information on prosecutions and convictions for covid-19 related offences, in England and Wales, up to December 2021, in the ‘Outcomes by Offence’ data tool, available here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1076459/outcomes-by-offence-tool-2021-v2.xlsx.

In the “Prosecutions and Convictions” worksheet, use the Home Office offence code filter to select the following offences:

• 16857 - Failure to comply with screening restriction/requirement (coronavirus)
• 16858 - Operator of Port fails to comply with direction under Coronavirus Act 2020
• 16859 - Offences by potentially infectious persons (coronavirus)
• 16860 - Breach of emergency period restrictions (coronavirus)
• 16861 - Offences in relation to events and gatherings (coronavirus)

Figures for prosecutions and convictions populate rows 24 and 25 respectively.

The Government is committed to supporting recovery and improving timeliness across the court system. Over the next three financial years, we are investing an extra £477 million for the Criminal Justice System to help improve waiting times for victims of crime and reduce the Crown Court backlog to an estimated 53,000 cases by March 2025.

The outstanding caseload in the Crown Court has reduced from around 60,700 cases in June 2021 to around 58,300 cases at the end of April 2022.

By the end of March 2023, we expect to get through 20% more Crown Court cases than we did pre-Covid (117,000 in 2022/23 compared to 97,000 in 2019/20).

We have expanded the capacity of the Crown Court so that we are able to hear more cases. We have extended 30 Nightingale courtrooms beyond the end of March 2022, including 22 Crown courtrooms. We have also opened two new ‘super courtrooms’ in Manchester and Loughborough, allowing up to an extra 250 cases a year to be heard across England and Wales.

We have once again removed the limit on sitting days in the Crown Court for this financial year to allow courts to work at full capacity, delivering swifter justice for victims and reducing the backlog of cases.

We are expanding our plans for judicial recruitment to secure enough capacity to sit at the required levels in 2022/2023 and beyond.

We have published the Criminal Justice Delivery Data Dashboard which brings together local and national data from across the system on key priority areas to increase transparency, increase understanding of the justice system and support collaboration, particularly at a local level.

The dashboard measures progress against priority areas such as improving timeliness, increasing victim engagement and improving the quality of justice. For the adult rape dashboard, we also measure progress against the Rape Review ambition to more than double the number of adult rape cases reaching the court by the end of Parliament.

We are also implementing our Court Reform programme, which aims to make our court processes more efficient, meaning we can get through more cases in fewer sitting days.

The Protocol sets out the working agreement between Government and the Law Commission in respect of the Government responding to full and final published reports. An interim and final response should be provided as set out in the Protocol, but additional response time can be agreed with the Commission, if necessary.

However, the type of work commissioned by government can vary in length and will not always lead to a full report being produced, so it is not possible for the Ministry of Justice to state the average time it has taken for the Government to respond to each Law Commission report in the last five years.

We recognise the impact the pandemic has had on timeliness, and the Government is committed to continuing to work to reduce waiting times for victims, witnesses and other court users.

Over the next three financial years we are investing an extra £477 million for the Criminal Justice System to help improve waiting times for victims of crime.

We are investing £1 million in a programme of work to support the recruitment of new magistrates. Over the next three financial years we are aiming to recruit 4,000 new magistrates.

As a result of these measures, in the magistrates' court, the criminal caseload has fallen from 445,000 in July 2020 to 358,100 in April 2022.

The table below sets out timeliness of magistrates' courts cases for charge to first listing before a magistrate (known also as first hearing, or first appearance) for the offences of:

• Having an article with a blade or point in a public place
• Having an article with a blade or point on school premises
• Threaten with a blade or sharply pointed article on school premises
• Threaten with blade/sharply pointed article in a public place

Notes

1) Data excludes a small number of cases with identified data quality issues and breaches.

2) Only one offence is counted for each defendant in the case. If there is more than one offence per defendant that complete on the same day, a set of validation rules applies to select one offence only and these relate to the longest duration, seriousness and the lowest sequence number of the offence.

3) Data includes cases completed in the magistrates' courts during the specified time period, where no further action is required by the magistrates' courts.

4) Data includes cases that are sent to the Crown Court.

5) Following a technical issue a small amount of data (less than 1% of case disposals) was not included for a single day in September.

Further information on Magistrates' Courts Timeliness can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/criminal-court-statistics-quarterly-october-to-december-2021.

We recognise the impact the pandemic has had on timeliness, and the Government is committed to continuing to work to reduce waiting times for victims, witnesses and other court users.

Over the next three financial years we are investing an extra £477 million for the Criminal Justice System to help improve waiting times for victims of crime.

We have removed the limit on sitting days in the Crown Court for the second year in a row. This means that the courts will continue working at full capacity, delivering swifter justice for victims and reducing the backlog of cases. We are also expanding our plans for judicial recruitment to secure enough capacity to sit at the required levels in 2022/2023 and beyond. We opened two new ‘super courtrooms’ in Manchester and Loughborough, allowing up to an extra 250 cases a year to be heard across England and Wales.

In the magistrates' court, the criminal caseload has fallen from 445,000 in July 2020 to 358,100 in April 2022. The outstanding caseload in the Crown Court has reduced from around 60,700 cases in June 2021 to around 58,300 cases at the end of April 2022.

Receipts and disposals by offence group and by Crown Court is already published in the ‘Crown Court cases received, disposed and outstanding tool’. The tool provides quarterly data from 2014 to 2021 by Crown Court and selected offence groups and can be adjusted to establish annual figures.

The tool doesn’t include ‘All rape’ in the list of offence groups so a table (Table 1 attached) has been provided for PQ 23305.

Magistrates courts’ information relating to receipts, disposals and outstanding cases is not available by offence type. Identifying the selected offence groups for this PQ would therefore represent disproportionate costs.

We recognise the impact the pandemic has had on timeliness, and the Government is committed to continuing to work to reduce waiting times for victims, witnesses and other court users.

Over the next three financial years we are investing an extra £477 million for the Criminal Justice System to help improve waiting times for victims of crime.

We have removed the limit on sitting days in the Crown Court for the second year in a row. This means that the courts will continue working at full capacity, delivering swifter justice for victims and reducing the backlog of cases. We are also expanding our plans for judicial recruitment to secure enough capacity to sit at the required levels in 2022/2023 and beyond. We opened two new ‘super courtrooms’ in Manchester and Loughborough, allowing up to an extra 250 cases a year to be heard across England and Wales.

In the magistrates' court, the criminal caseload has fallen from 445,000 in July 2020 to 358,100 in April 2022. The outstanding caseload in the Crown Court has reduced from around 60,700 cases in June 2021 to around 58,300 cases at the end of April 2022.

Receipts and disposals by offence group and by Crown Court is already published in the ‘Crown Court cases received, disposed and outstanding tool’. The tool provides quarterly data from 2014 to 2021 by Crown Court and selected offence groups and can be adjusted to establish annual figures.

The tool doesn’t include ‘All rape’ in the list of offence groups so a table (Table 1 attached) has been provided for PQ 23305.

Magistrates courts’ information relating to receipts, disposals and outstanding cases is not available by offence type. Identifying the selected offence groups for this PQ would therefore represent disproportionate costs.

We recognise the impact the pandemic has had on timeliness, and the Government is committed to continuing to work to reduce waiting times for victims, witnesses and other court users.

Over the next three financial years we are investing an extra £477 million for the Criminal Justice System to help improve waiting times for victims of crime.

We have removed the limit on sitting days in the Crown Court for the second year in a row. This means that the courts will continue working at full capacity, delivering swifter justice for victims and reducing the backlog of cases. We are also expanding our plans for judicial recruitment to secure enough capacity to sit at the required levels in 2022/2023 and beyond. We opened two new ‘super courtrooms’ in Manchester and Loughborough, allowing up to an extra 250 cases a year to be heard across England and Wales.

In the magistrates' court, the criminal caseload has fallen from 445,000 in July 2020 to 358,100 in April 2022. The outstanding caseload in the Crown Court has reduced from around 60,700 cases in June 2021 to around 58,300 cases at the end of April 2022.

Receipts and disposals by offence group and by Crown Court is already published in the ‘Crown Court cases received, disposed and outstanding tool’. The tool provides quarterly data from 2014 to 2021 by Crown Court and selected offence groups and can be adjusted to establish annual figures.

The tool doesn’t include ‘All rape’ in the list of offence groups so a table (Table 1 attached) has been provided for PQ 23305.

Magistrates courts’ information relating to receipts, disposals and outstanding cases is not available by offence type. Identifying the selected offence groups for this PQ would therefore represent disproportionate costs.

We recognise the impact the pandemic has had on timeliness, and the Government is committed to continuing to work to reduce waiting times for victims, witnesses and other court users.

Over the next three financial years we are investing an extra £477 million for the Criminal Justice System to help improve waiting times for victims of crime.

We have removed the limit on sitting days in the Crown Court for the second year in a row. This means that the courts will continue working at full capacity, delivering swifter justice for victims and reducing the backlog of cases. We are also expanding our plans for judicial recruitment to secure enough capacity to sit at the required levels in 2022/2023 and beyond. We opened two new ‘super courtrooms’ in Manchester and Loughborough, allowing up to an extra 250 cases a year to be heard across England and Wales.

In the magistrates' court, the criminal caseload has fallen from 445,000 in July 2020 to 358,100 in April 2022. The outstanding caseload in the Crown Court has reduced from around 60,700 cases in June 2021 to around 58,300 cases at the end of April 2022.

Receipts and disposals by offence group and by Crown Court is already published in the ‘Crown Court cases received, disposed and outstanding tool’. The tool provides quarterly data from 2014 to 2021 by Crown Court and selected offence groups and can be adjusted to establish annual figures.

The tool doesn’t include ‘All rape’ in the list of offence groups so a table (Table 1 attached) has been provided for PQ 23305.

Magistrates courts’ information relating to receipts, disposals and outstanding cases is not available by offence type. Identifying the selected offence groups for this PQ would therefore represent disproportionate costs.

We recognise the impact the pandemic has had on timeliness, and the Government is committed to continuing to work to reduce waiting times for victims, witnesses and other court users.

Over the next three financial years we are investing an extra £477 million for the Criminal Justice System to help improve waiting times for victims of crime.

We have removed the limit on sitting days in the Crown Court for the second year in a row. This means that the courts will continue working at full capacity, delivering swifter justice for victims and reducing the backlog of cases. We are also expanding our plans for judicial recruitment to secure enough capacity to sit at the required levels in 2022/2023 and beyond. We opened two new ‘super courtrooms’ in Manchester and Loughborough, allowing up to an extra 250 cases a year to be heard across England and Wales.

In the magistrates' court, the criminal caseload has fallen from 445,000 in July 2020 to 358,100 in April 2022. The outstanding caseload in the Crown Court has reduced from around 60,700 cases in June 2021 to around 58,300 cases at the end of April 2022.

Receipts and disposals by offence group and by Crown Court is already published in the ‘Crown Court cases received, disposed and outstanding tool’. The tool provides quarterly data from 2014 to 2021 by Crown Court and selected offence groups and can be adjusted to establish annual figures.

The tool doesn’t include ‘All rape’ in the list of offence groups so a table (Table 1 attached) has been provided for PQ 23305.

Magistrates courts’ information relating to receipts, disposals and outstanding cases is not available by offence type. Identifying the selected offence groups for this PQ would therefore represent disproportionate costs.

HM Courts & Tribunals Service (HMCTS) does not hold information on full wheelchair access and parking facilities at Crown Court locations as at 1 January 2022 and does not record information on these centrally. This information as at June 2022 is being collected and I will write to you to provide this when it is available.

HMCTS gives an indication of available facilities, including wheelchair access and parking facilities, on the Find a Court or Tribunal website at www.find-court-tribunal.service.gov.uk. The information on this website is routinely updated but may not cover everything that can be done to help someone with a disability coming to court. If any Crown Court user has a disability that means they cannot access court information or services, they are encouraged to contact the court involved by phone, in person or in writing. HMCTS will provide any reasonable adjustment to help and support users with disabilities to use court services. Courts may be able to make reasonable adjustments to help users attend a court which does not explicitly have wheelchair access or wheelchair parking facilities indicated on the website.

At least 69 of 87 Crown Court locations are recorded nationally as having hearing loops on site by HMCTS Facilities Management contract provider as at June 2022. Those which do not have hearing loops on site may still have facilities available or be able to make reasonable adjustments to help users who need hearing equipment. Users are encouraged to contact the court involved to discuss what they need to help them attend court and access services. This information is recorded by HMCTS operational region rather than Crown Prosecution Service Areas, as follows:

Data relates to the permanent estate only, and does not include Nightingale Courts or other temporary venues.

HMCTS most recently carried out an internal facilities audit in 2019 and is currently reviewing the next opportunity to revisit the facilities audit whilst continuing to ensure facilities for persons with disabilities attending court are monitored to meet their needs.

HMCTS does not centrally record instances where a Crown Court user attends court with an assistance dog, but assistance dogs are welcome in all Crown Court buildings. Users should never be told they cannot bring assistance dogs in our buildings, in accordance with the Equality Act 2010.

HMCTS is committed to ensuring vulnerable people, including users with disabilities can access the justice system and updated its Vulnerability Action Plan in April 2022. This can be viewed at www.gov.uk/government/publications/hmcts-vulnerability-action-plan.

Pre-trial visits in the Crown Court are conducted by Victim Support in London and the Citizens Advice Witness Service outside of London. Pre-court visits in other court and tribunal jurisdictions may be available to users on request depending on the jurisdiction. HMCTS does not hold records on how many visits have been requested and provided. Anyone who has questions or concerns about going to court is again encouraged to contact the court or any other advisory service available to them to discuss what to expect on the day.

HM Courts & Tribunals Service (HMCTS) does not hold information on full wheelchair access and parking facilities at Crown Court locations as at 1 January 2022 and does not record information on these centrally. This information as at June 2022 is being collected and I will write to you to provide this when it is available.

HMCTS gives an indication of available facilities, including wheelchair access and parking facilities, on the Find a Court or Tribunal website at www.find-court-tribunal.service.gov.uk. The information on this website is routinely updated but may not cover everything that can be done to help someone with a disability coming to court. If any Crown Court user has a disability that means they cannot access court information or services, they are encouraged to contact the court involved by phone, in person or in writing. HMCTS will provide any reasonable adjustment to help and support users with disabilities to use court services. Courts may be able to make reasonable adjustments to help users attend a court which does not explicitly have wheelchair access or wheelchair parking facilities indicated on the website.

At least 69 of 87 Crown Court locations are recorded nationally as having hearing loops on site by HMCTS Facilities Management contract provider as at June 2022. Those which do not have hearing loops on site may still have facilities available or be able to make reasonable adjustments to help users who need hearing equipment. Users are encouraged to contact the court involved to discuss what they need to help them attend court and access services. This information is recorded by HMCTS operational region rather than Crown Prosecution Service Areas, as follows:

Data relates to the permanent estate only, and does not include Nightingale Courts or other temporary venues.

HMCTS most recently carried out an internal facilities audit in 2019 and is currently reviewing the next opportunity to revisit the facilities audit whilst continuing to ensure facilities for persons with disabilities attending court are monitored to meet their needs.

HMCTS does not centrally record instances where a Crown Court user attends court with an assistance dog, but assistance dogs are welcome in all Crown Court buildings. Users should never be told they cannot bring assistance dogs in our buildings, in accordance with the Equality Act 2010.

HMCTS is committed to ensuring vulnerable people, including users with disabilities can access the justice system and updated its Vulnerability Action Plan in April 2022. This can be viewed at www.gov.uk/government/publications/hmcts-vulnerability-action-plan.

Pre-trial visits in the Crown Court are conducted by Victim Support in London and the Citizens Advice Witness Service outside of London. Pre-court visits in other court and tribunal jurisdictions may be available to users on request depending on the jurisdiction. HMCTS does not hold records on how many visits have been requested and provided. Anyone who has questions or concerns about going to court is again encouraged to contact the court or any other advisory service available to them to discuss what to expect on the day.

HM Courts & Tribunals Service (HMCTS) does not hold information on full wheelchair access and parking facilities at Crown Court locations as at 1 January 2022 and does not record information on these centrally. This information as at June 2022 is being collected and I will write to you to provide this when it is available.

HMCTS gives an indication of available facilities, including wheelchair access and parking facilities, on the Find a Court or Tribunal website at www.find-court-tribunal.service.gov.uk. The information on this website is routinely updated but may not cover everything that can be done to help someone with a disability coming to court. If any Crown Court user has a disability that means they cannot access court information or services, they are encouraged to contact the court involved by phone, in person or in writing. HMCTS will provide any reasonable adjustment to help and support users with disabilities to use court services. Courts may be able to make reasonable adjustments to help users attend a court which does not explicitly have wheelchair access or wheelchair parking facilities indicated on the website.

At least 69 of 87 Crown Court locations are recorded nationally as having hearing loops on site by HMCTS Facilities Management contract provider as at June 2022. Those which do not have hearing loops on site may still have facilities available or be able to make reasonable adjustments to help users who need hearing equipment. Users are encouraged to contact the court involved to discuss what they need to help them attend court and access services. This information is recorded by HMCTS operational region rather than Crown Prosecution Service Areas, as follows:

Data relates to the permanent estate only, and does not include Nightingale Courts or other temporary venues.

HMCTS most recently carried out an internal facilities audit in 2019 and is currently reviewing the next opportunity to revisit the facilities audit whilst continuing to ensure facilities for persons with disabilities attending court are monitored to meet their needs.

HMCTS does not centrally record instances where a Crown Court user attends court with an assistance dog, but assistance dogs are welcome in all Crown Court buildings. Users should never be told they cannot bring assistance dogs in our buildings, in accordance with the Equality Act 2010.

HMCTS is committed to ensuring vulnerable people, including users with disabilities can access the justice system and updated its Vulnerability Action Plan in April 2022. This can be viewed at www.gov.uk/government/publications/hmcts-vulnerability-action-plan.

Pre-trial visits in the Crown Court are conducted by Victim Support in London and the Citizens Advice Witness Service outside of London. Pre-court visits in other court and tribunal jurisdictions may be available to users on request depending on the jurisdiction. HMCTS does not hold records on how many visits have been requested and provided. Anyone who has questions or concerns about going to court is again encouraged to contact the court or any other advisory service available to them to discuss what to expect on the day.

HM Courts & Tribunals Service (HMCTS) does not hold information on full wheelchair access and parking facilities at Crown Court locations as at 1 January 2022 and does not record information on these centrally. This information as at June 2022 is being collected and I will write to you to provide this when it is available.

HMCTS gives an indication of available facilities, including wheelchair access and parking facilities, on the Find a Court or Tribunal website at www.find-court-tribunal.service.gov.uk. The information on this website is routinely updated but may not cover everything that can be done to help someone with a disability coming to court. If any Crown Court user has a disability that means they cannot access court information or services, they are encouraged to contact the court involved by phone, in person or in writing. HMCTS will provide any reasonable adjustment to help and support users with disabilities to use court services. Courts may be able to make reasonable adjustments to help users attend a court which does not explicitly have wheelchair access or wheelchair parking facilities indicated on the website.

At least 69 of 87 Crown Court locations are recorded nationally as having hearing loops on site by HMCTS Facilities Management contract provider as at June 2022. Those which do not have hearing loops on site may still have facilities available or be able to make reasonable adjustments to help users who need hearing equipment. Users are encouraged to contact the court involved to discuss what they need to help them attend court and access services. This information is recorded by HMCTS operational region rather than Crown Prosecution Service Areas, as follows:

Data relates to the permanent estate only, and does not include Nightingale Courts or other temporary venues.

HMCTS most recently carried out an internal facilities audit in 2019 and is currently reviewing the next opportunity to revisit the facilities audit whilst continuing to ensure facilities for persons with disabilities attending court are monitored to meet their needs.

HMCTS does not centrally record instances where a Crown Court user attends court with an assistance dog, but assistance dogs are welcome in all Crown Court buildings. Users should never be told they cannot bring assistance dogs in our buildings, in accordance with the Equality Act 2010.

HMCTS is committed to ensuring vulnerable people, including users with disabilities can access the justice system and updated its Vulnerability Action Plan in April 2022. This can be viewed at www.gov.uk/government/publications/hmcts-vulnerability-action-plan.

Pre-trial visits in the Crown Court are conducted by Victim Support in London and the Citizens Advice Witness Service outside of London. Pre-court visits in other court and tribunal jurisdictions may be available to users on request depending on the jurisdiction. HMCTS does not hold records on how many visits have been requested and provided. Anyone who has questions or concerns about going to court is again encouraged to contact the court or any other advisory service available to them to discuss what to expect on the day.